I came across the greetings from Roanoke mural as we were exploring downtown Roanoke. It was an…read moreexperience that we enjoyed seeing different welcome to insert city names every time we go to places like this.

Salem has a pleasant little downtown area that offers enough to allow you to while away an…read moreafternoon. We were there with our daughter recently. She wanted to check it out as she was considering a post-doc assignment in the area. We met her there as we thought it might be a good opportunity to catch up with her. None of us had been to Salem before, and we had no idea what to expect. What we found was a nice little Central Business District featuring several shops, a lovely Liberal Arts College and a couple of intriguing-looking restaurants. There is a great little bookstore (Walter & Co.) and a Vintage Gift Shop (Blue Moon) that provided us an opportunity for browsing. There is also an Antique Mall and a Farmer's Market that were not open when we were there, but looked interesting. The picturesque little Roanoke College campus is immediately adjacent to downtown, and was pleasant to wander. Mill Mountain offered us the chance to take a break for a coffee and a treat. There were also a couple of restaurants that would have made great dinner spots to try had we planned to stay that long. While Salem is not going to make anyone's vacation list, it is still a nice understated spot to spend half a day if you're passing through or live nearby. If you like exploring the day-to-day and the underlying culture and lifestyle of Western Virginia, the Near South and the Appalachia area, this is not a bad place to include on your itinerary for such an exploration.

Global harmony is a cool sculpture/statue that we found next to an expressway in downtown part of…read morethe city. It was easy to find as it's a fairly large statue and it was cool, and I had a nice meaning behind it.

Commissioned to celebrate the City of Roanoke's diversity and ten years of public art, this…read moresculpture stands in Entranceway Park at the corner of Williamson Road and Wells Avenue Northeast. Created by Arizona-based artist Stephen Fairfield, the steel and fiberglass work contains LED lights that can be programmed to shine in different colors for special occasions. The image is of an arm raised from the ground, holding the globe. You can see the outlines of the continents. It does not revolve but the lights on the arm and hand do change color. It's striking. [Review 13782 overall, 1103 of 2020, number 1216 in Virginia.]

Located in downtown Roanoke opposite the courthouse and near some municipal offices, this monument…read morecommemorates local residents who gave their lives in conflicts from World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam and though to the Iraq Conflict. Three large tablets are engraved with names and quotes. There are 755 names listed. The tablets were erected in 1982 updated and cleaned recently to remove staining and corrosion. There has been some controversy and in July 2020, the marker to General Robert E. Lee is in the process of being removed. I would imagine that "Lee Plaza" will be officially renamed as well. Stop by and pay tribute to those who made it possible for us to have our freedoms. There are metered street parking and parking decks nearby. [Review 13793 overall, 1114 of 2020, number 1227 in Virginia.]

This is a lovely gentrified neighborhood that takes one back to the first half of the 20th century…read more It is a small neighborhood geographically, comprising just 7 acres. Houses were generally built between 1906 and 1952. The small commercial area was particularly enjoyable for me. There are a few restaurants and a handful of specialty stores, services and offices. The commercial sector reminds me of the old neighborhood shopping districts that developed in the late 19th and 20th centuries in cities around the US. Those districts were still viable through a good part of my life. Many are still vibrant even now because their utility still exists, but also because their charm attracts people from outside their respective communities, which adds to their commercial sustainability. That's the case for Grandin Village. It's certainly a pleasant place to spend an afternoon. It was an enjoyable, nostalgic experience for me.

This is a cool looking statue that we found while we were down exploring in the city. My buddy and…read moreI love adding public are in finding statues and things so this was one of many that we found that it was pretty cool.

This bronze sculpture is located across from The Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center, a hotel…read moreproperty that is now under the Hilton Curio umbrella. The artwork is located in a semi-circular plaza that has several panels mounted that tell the story of the Gainsboro neighborhood and the freed blacks who lived here seeking work with the railroad. The statue is an abstract of a woman in a yoga pose. It's quite striking. There is some limited street parking nearby and a paid lot operated by the hotel. [Review 13777 overall, 1098 of 2020, number 1212 in Virginia.]

We went looking for a bunch of public art while we were in the area. We came across the welcome to…read morelane stadium Miral. His located behind the gate in the football stadium.

This is the bike safety hokie He is excited to see you and teach you all about riding bikes and…read morebeing safe in the neighborhood. He is located pretty close to a health office on the right hand side of the busy street.